Spring Practice Report - Day One

Steve Ryan

03/24/2004

Day one - Spring Practice. Too easy to call it the beginning of a new era. Rather, let's call it the beginning of yet another new season. A season in which this Nebraska team will undergo changes not seen since perhaps the day Bob Devaney took the reins in starting a pretty impressive era of his own. It's Day-One in your Spring Practice coverage.

Nebraska took the field today for it's first practice of the
Spring. As the questions mount as to what everyone should expect this season,
the Huskers took the field today to try and sort out some of the early answers.

Amidst what was close to perfect weather, the Nebraska
Cornhuskers took the field today for their first official Spring practice.

While the weather was
perfect, the team was expectedly not, head coach, Bill Callahan noting the obvious growing pains this team will have to
endure. "We did not have a lot of work in the off-season relative to the scheme,
techniques and fundamentals

Head coach, Bill Callahan oversees the
first Spring Practice of the year

that we were working on today." he said. "We were
a little rusty, we have a long ways to go, but I am encouraged by our effort and
our energy and our tempo today on the practice field."

The tempo seemed to be a theme for the team today, all the way
up to the coaching staff, Callaham stating that all of the persons involved
today exhibited some good early signs of the energy he was looking for. "We are
looking for guys that move between drills and give us full-speed effort on every
snap." he said. "That have the ability and effort to hustle back to the huddle,
get realigned, refocus, reconcentrate on the next play. So, I was pleased with
that, but we can always get better in that respect."

"(But) Overall in the first day, it was an impressive
tempo."

While the weather was
nice, the players were not in pads, but Callahan stated that the lack of pads
would in no way slow the learning process down for the Huskers as they try to
cram in as much of the new system as they can, day to day. "The mental and the
assignment aspect of what to do and how to do it is vital." Callahan stated.
"You can get so much accomplished

Huskers
stretching, preparing for their practice. The QBs (In Green), Joe Dailey, Garth Glissman, Mike Stuntz and Zach Miller will
all be competing for a spot on the two-deep while trying to learn
a new system at the same time.

when you are
in shorts."

"This is a perfect setting. It was a great atmosphere today with
the weather and it's a great opportunity to come out and teach some of the
fundamentals of what we are trying to get accomplished."

The accomplishment itself for Callahan and company would be just
that. The implementation of different philosophies to a certain extent on
defense, but on the offensive side, the basics of a complete facelift, going
from the traditional option attack to the sexier, more pro-style West Coast
attack, a system used widely in the NFL.

It's a task or challenge that Callahan was chomping at the bit
to take on. "I was looking forward to this for a long time." Callahan said of
the opportunity at Nebraska. "I wanted to see how this system would work and I
wanted to see how it would be received by the players."

"I thought our players
worked hard and I thought by and large, our kids grasped the system as they
moved on. They were a little
bit tentative,
a little anxious to begin with, so it was a little bit tough for some of the
guys, but once they settled down and relaxed, they understood the concept a
little better."

A couple players that were
expected to find themselves behind from the outset, not expected to see the
first parts of practice were offensive linemen, Jake Andersen and Mike Erickson. Erickson was the one most
questionable, the guard still nursing an injured hip, but he did see limited
action today. "Jake had a few reps and Mike is fighting through that hip injury
pretty hard." he said. "I thought that both those guys were giving a good effort
and we'll try to blend them in as they get healthier."

New QB coach and
co-offensive coordinator, Jay Norvell begins the long
process of implementing Nebraska's quarterbacks to the pro-style of
playing. Dailey, Stuntz, Miller and
Glissman will be joined by Beau Davis, Joe Ganz and Jordan Adams, all of which have
already played in systems similar to the new offense Nebraska will run
this
year.

There were a host of players however that
didn't see action today due to either short-term problems or situations expected
to keep them out the entire Spring.

After day-one of Spring practices, what you know is probably
what everyone knows right now. Not a lot. Early-practice jitters, uneasiness or
just plain rust had the team looking like a team that hasn't practiced in awhile
and a team that was practicing something entirely new.

It was expected, but as coach Callahan stated, this is where it
starts and where it goes from here is what matters in the end. "This is an
opportunity this Spring to see where we are at as a team." Callahan stated. "To
really examine roles that players will be put forth in, in the Fall, so again,
we are trying to mold our team and build our chemistry this Spring."